The 2023 UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), which will begin this Thursday, November 30th in Dubai and will be controversial. The choice of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the venue for the meeting and Sultan al-Jaber, the head of the country’s state oil company, as president of the summit has already caused unrest. But this Monday the BBC published news that caused a lot of controversy.

According to the UK network, the United Arab Emirates “planned to use its role as host of UN climate talks as opportunity to close oil and gas transactions”. The BBC had access to leaked documents that revealed plans to “discuss fossil fuel deals” with at least 15 countries.

Environmental organization Greenpace was one of the first to respond to the news: “If the allegations are true, This is completely unacceptable and a real scandal. The leader of the climate summit must be focused and dedicate all his time and effort to impartially promoting climate solutions, rather than making shady deals that also fuel the climate crisis itself. “This is exactly the type of conflict of interest we feared when the oil company CEO was appointed to this position.”

The documents, which were accessed by independent Climate Reporting Center journalists working with the BBC, also planned meetings with at least 27 foreign governments before COP28. They included various “talking points” to try to negotiate agreements between Adnoc, the United Arab Emirates’ state oil company, and various countries.

For example, they wanted to tell China that Adnoc “ready to jointly evaluate international opportunities for liquefied natural gas” in Mozambique, Canada and Australia. And they planned to tell the Colombian minister that the oil company was “ready” to help Colombia develop its fossil fuel resources.

“The briefings show that the UAE also planned to talk about business opportunities for state-owned renewable energy company Masdar, and then held meetings with 20 countries, including the UK, US, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Brazil, China, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. and Kenya,” reports the BBC.

The UN body responsible for the COP28 summit assured the UK network that hosts were expected to “act without prejudice or self-interest”. Although the UAE did not deny this information, and They simply said that “private meetings are private meetings.”

Loss of trust

The BBC also received a series of emails informing COP28 staff that Adnock and Masdar’s talking points “should always be included” in briefings. Something the COP28 team vehemently denied, saying it was “simply a lie.”

“If the presidency wants to restore trust, it can only do so with facts. negotiate a global agreement on a fair and equitable phase-out of all fossil fuels, according to science, and make polluters pay for the loss and damage they cause around the world. This would make this COP28 truly historic, and is essentially what the world is urgently waiting for,” Greenpeace said.

They added: “We have all the solutions we need to make the transition to renewable energy, but it won’t happen fast enough unless governments can get rid of fossil fuels. an opportunity to ensure our survival rather than enter into trade agreements that fuel a crisis. “This summit is the world’s most powerful forum to address the greatest threat to human survival, and we call on the Presidency to act accordingly.”

It’s worth remembering that COP28 is the most important climate summit in the world. This year’s event will feature 167 world leaders, including the Pope and King Charles III. And all this with the goal of addressing the effects of climate change and trying to stop it before it’s too late.